Tell My Pride I'm Coming Home
by DisneyDreamWorksFanatic1999
Summary: After an accident on a safari, a teenage human girl is transformed into a lion cub. One year after her pride is slaughtered, Maisha begins a journey not just to get back to her human family, but to help Kopa, the lost prince of Pride Rock get back home. Maisha then begins to question whether she should stay with Kopa, or somehow, with Rafiki's help, get back to Boston.
1. Chapter 1

Tell My Pride I'm Coming Home: Prologue

Hujambo. That mean's 'hello' in Swahilian, I'm Maisha, I am a lioness from Pride Rock, but I didn't live in the savannah as a lion from the very beginning, I was reborn. You'd like to hear my story? All right. I'll begin.

_Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, 2011. In a small apartment, a young African American woman sits at her computer and makes a reservation for a safari in her homeland of Africa, beside her, a fourteen-year old girl named Kira, watches excitedly_

"_I can't believe we'll finally be going to Africa! I'm so excited!" Kira squeals like a fan girl, hugs her mother and rushes to her room and begins texting her friends the good news, and replies flood in within minutes._

_**One week later…**_

_Kira scanned her surroundings with anticipation, there was so much to see here!, she couldn't have been more excited in all her life. To her right, her two older brothers; Payton and Chris, are busy on their phones. The family wasn't even outside yet the airport itself was uber-exciting to Kira, she couldn't wait to get outside and hopefully interact with the locals and the animals, especially the lions. Ever since she saw The Lion King at a young age, Kira's favorite animal was a lion, she hoped to see one on the safari they'd be going on in a couple of days._

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><p>"<em>Kira! Come on! We're almost ready to go!" Kira looked up from her phone and shoved it into her backpack and followed her mother outside. After walked out the front entrance of the lobby, the family boarded their safari cab and drove out.<em>

_They drove for hours and had seen a herd of elephants, a huge herd of wildebeest, and a lone zebra mother and her foal. The foal curiously trotted up to the cab and sniffed Kira's hand, and amazingly, the baby didn't bite, and the mother didn't attack, it was very serene and the safari itself was fabulous. Then, they finally found a pride of lions, where there were multiple cubs playing around, making happy noises, as they drove back around, Kira heard a strange sound, then smelled smoke_

"_Um…mom?" __**BAM! **__A huge explosion from underneath the cab destroyed it to beyond recognition, sending the driver and it's passengers not far. Kira's family and the driver survived with some injuries, but when Kira was discovered in a pile of brush a distance away from the explosion site, she was been sent into a coma, and she was on the very brink of death. She'd been rushed to the closest hospital where she was put on life support and the family was forced to remain in Africa longer than they anticipated, and they prayed Kira would survive, but those prayers were short lived._

_Three weeks after the explosion, Kira's heart monitor was slowing, and had remained in a coma since, and with no positive guarantee she'd ever wake up._

I blinked open my eyes, revealing a blurry landscape, there was lots of grass, and some stumpy trees, I felt a hard cool surface underneath me, then, a huge face appeared in front of me, and huge pink tongue brushed me

"There, you're clean. Maisha." _Whu_? I thought, _Where am I? And why is a lion looking at me? _I tried standing, but I collapsed from shaky legs, I yawned, and instead of hearing nothing, I heard myself make a tiny squeak, I blinked again and tried again to stand, and was successful

"Mommy? Mommy?" I scanned to search for my mother, but I couldn't see her, then the lioness calls Maisha again and says

"Honey, what is it?"

"Where's my mommy? I'm lost!" The lioness wears a confused look and says

"I'm right here honey, you're not lost. I am your mother." She was my mother? What happened to me? I looked at my belly, revealing a pale creamy white, my base fur was a light, creamy yellow tan, I found a small puddle of water and I saw dark yellow-gold eyes, I'd been reborn from a human girl, to a lion cub! Shocked at my appearance, I stumbled back and my 'mother' caught me

"Come along Maisha, I'd like you to meet some kind people you'll like." I follow her and we arrive at a small pride of lions, amongst lioness' and cubs, a huge male lion stood and approached my 'mother'

"Ajia, welcome back." He said in a deep, rumbling, but kind voice, he must be a great pride leader

"Yes, Amri, this is my daughter, Maisha." She gently pushed me foreword, allowing the lion to survey me

"Well, the name is fitting, considering your pregnancy." My 'mother' nodded and said

"I'm very happy she'd managed to survive. In fact, shortly after she was born, she managed to stand on her own, without any help." The lion, Amri, looked impressed

"That's wonderful, come along Maisha, let's introduce you to the others." I was introduced to other lioness's and their cubs, some of whom I became fast friends with, and life seemed pretty decent, and it was this way for about 1 year.

When I was about a year old, I had pretty much mastered the art of fighting in self-defense, and I had learned the basics on hunting. One day, while I was independently relaxing on a shaded rock, I heard the familiar sound of gunshots, my pride jolted and before cubs could be hidden and pregnant lionesses to flee, men appeared and I was the only one that managed to stay hidden from sight, in front of me, in just twenty minutes, I watched my pride slaughtered, I stayed frozen and quiet, fearing to be taken down by the huge hunting guns, once I knew they were gone, I slithered out of my hiding spot I gagged and cried at the scene, my 'mother' was the only one that was barely alive, I padded over to her and nudged her, she weakly lifted her head and whispered hoarsely

"Maisha. Run, save y-yourself and run, follow the sun…follow…t-the…sun…" She laid her head down with a thump and took her last breath.

Shaken by the event, I did as I was told and follow the sun, I didn't care where I went, I needed to flee and find another pride for refuge, until then, I was on my own.

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><p><strong>Maisha: African for 'Life'<strong>

**Ajia: African for 'Swift'**

**Amri: African for 'Power/Authority'**


	2. Chapter 2

Tell My Pride I'm Coming Home Chapter 1: The Lost Prince

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><p>"Hey! Abiola! Wait!" I called out after the only friend I'd managed to find, a female cheetah named Abiola, which is a Nigerian name given to one born during the New Year.<p>

She and I had been hunting gazelle, and it sucks to be a lion sometimes, I'm just not fast. She bolted ahead of me, and I took off after her. I had been a lion for about two years now, and it has its ups and downs. When I met Abiola last year, she was the only I trusted to share what had happened to me before I was reborn, and she thought it was kind of interesting and that one day I should share my story with someone by the name of Rakifi. You see, the one downside of being reborn as a lion as that I forgot all the awesome movies I saw, but I do remember their amazing quotes. Muttering those quotes under my breath somehow keeps me comforted.

After about five minutes of chasing that gazelle, Abiola finally brought it down and killed it

"About time." I mutter under my breath, so that Abiola would hear it

"Do I hear a 'thank you Abi'?"

"Thank you Abi. Though I do think there should be a few times where I should hunt, not you." Abi nods

"That's fair. Running all the time makes me sore, next hunt, you take over." I nod and we dig in.

That night, when Abi falls asleep, I'm still wide awake, glancing up at the night sky, but then, I heard the sound of odd chanting, I turned my head in a circle, scanning the black tree line, when, I saw the monkey. It was a mandrill, with a white beard and white hair, he looked familiar, how…

"Well, hello there, young Maisha!"

"Who are you?"

"I am Rafiki!" Rafiki…that name again…

"What do you want?"

"Your life may seem to be in shambles now, but one lion will change all that."

"How…wait no…who?"

"Figure that out, on your own!" After that, the monkey vanished.

Getting to sleep was easier than I wanted, as I slept, I kept dreaming of this young lion, brown mane, and blue eyes, he said what his name was, but it was very faint. He kept saying something about coming to find me, and helping me carve my own path. And something about Pride Rock. It was the weirdest dream I'd ever had.

When I woke up the next morning, I didn't hear Abi's cheerful greeting, there was a painful silence

"Abi…? Where are you-? ABI! NO!" Where Abi lay, was a mauled, mutilated corpse, it was all that was left of the only friend I had. After quickly burying her so she wouldn't be eaten by any hyenas, or a cannibalistic lion, I bolted into the jungle. There, I ran into a few animals, some were kind, some weren't. Ever since Abi's death, things had felt very rushed, and I didn't understand why, it was like someone was trying to force something to me, I needed to clear my head.

The next few days were killing me, I felt I was having one those weird days I used to had as a human, I felt like someone was watching me the whole time I was there, and it was bothering me. On the fifth day in the jungle, I felt like there was another presence, I whirled around to face it, and to tell it to leave me alone, but when I did, I was facing a male lion, brown mane, golden fur, and blue eyes, just like the lion from my dream

"Wha-! Who are you?! And don't sneak up on me like that!" The lion retreated a little, then regained himself and said

"I'm sorry about that. I've noticed you before, you're the first lion I've seen in a long time."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I'm Prince Kopa, the Lost Prince of Pride Rock." Wait…wait…wait, what the hell just happened? Why can't someone just dunk a bucket of ice water on my head? Maybe I'm dreaming again, I bite myself on the forepaw, and sure enough

"Well, that hurt." Kopa looks at me like I've grown ten tails

"Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, it's just been very rough for me these past couple of years. I'm feeling a bit like an idiot right now. My head's in the clouds." Kopa gave me a weird look

"It's an expression an old friend of mine taught from Bost- my old pride, she's gone now though."

"I'm sorry."

"It's nothing. So, why'd you decide to talk to me of all the animals in the jungle?"

"Because I was hoping you could help get back to Pride Rock. I haven't been there in a long time. And my family probably forgot me."

"How long is a long time?"

"Eh, three years, give or take." _Three years? Wow. _I give Kopa a look, and then turn away to think. Well, I need something to help me clear my brain. Besides, I haven't had anyone to talk to in five days, why not?"

"Tell you what, I'll take you to Pride Rock, and you take me to Rafiki to help me clear up an issue I have."

"Sure, I suppose. When should we leave?"

"As soon as possible, the jungle hates me." Kopa laughs

"Deal. We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning."

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><p><strong>Hello again. Yeah, this chapter's kinda bumpy, but don't worry, it'll get better by each chapter. I promise that. Anyway, R&amp;R! And enjoy!<strong>


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